All these substitutions make life interesting, don't they? I would rather have had Pape as the Hoffmann villains (he's always first-rate, I think), but it's his choice to make as to whether he's doing them, and sometimes it's not until you've learned the notes and are starting to "sing it in" to the voice that you may learn that it feels wrong.

Calleja, however, should be marvelous as Hoffmann. It'll be his first time at the role, but I have great confidence in him, and I think it's the right step forward for him. (The Met has underused him, restricting him to the Rigoletto Duke, a few Macduffs, and one Nemorino last season when Villazon pulled out and almost every tenor on the roster got a crack at it.) I saw Calleja's Duke in Washington DC 2 years ago, and it was sensationally good -- the voice free and liquid and unpushed in a way hardly any other tenor sings now.

In a way, I'll be sorry not to see Gheorghiu's Carmen -- the voice has a smoky sexy star quality that could make her a throwback to soprano Carmens of the past, and I find her recording highly intriguing; but it may be an illusion of the microphones. Garanca should work out very well.

It does sound as if something is going on (or maybe isn't) with Roberto & Angela, does it not?

Too much togetherness, I guess. Aren't they the two who did the 45-minute Romeo et Juliette? I'd like to hear Calleja as the Duke. In fact, I keep waiting for a simulcast of Rigoletto but it never comes.

I thought to look for the schedule for the 2010 Glyndebourne Festival, and there it is .

After 2 summers off, I think I have to try to get there again. Right at the start of the season, Cosi fan tutte and Billy Budd are running concurrently, which is a combination made just for me. Time to start saving up....

What an awful production. Awful, awful, awful! You know I'm talking about Tosca, don't you? The good singing couldn't rescue this one. I know they couldn't keep doing the Zeferelli production forever, and I know the next director would feel compelled to come up with something different, but couldn't they get a director who has some understanding of the music? Bah.

Oh, I agree 100%. I hated it. I'd heard that the production was "controversial" but didn't really worry about it. I thought that music could overcome anything, and I was wrong. The hookers on stage, the sheer ugliness of the look, etc. Bleaghh.

Good to see we have our priorities right. (You forgot to mention Cuba has run out of toilet paper.) What did you think of Tosca, Barbara? We have tickets for the Encore showing, but I'm thinking of asking for our money back.